Christine
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Hi all, I am Christine and newish to your world, but not this world. Being later in years, I enjoy the simple pleasures, and for me, one of those is the Blues.
I am a math and physics teacher, nerd, sometime woodworker, and know just enough about circuits and audio to know that I don't know what you all do. However, I appreciate having read the many white papers that are present here and the honesty (that is not wrapped up in marketing) that if I so wanted, I could perhaps build my own Zen-ish amp, apart from your custom coils. Alas, though, I am not so inclined...
Mr. Deckert, I find your amps to be aesthetically beautiful (which is important to me) and their low power also appeals to my ears.
That, all being said, I listen to music in two ways: through a pair of Klipsch Reference 14 bookshelf speakers (they are 90dB - I had to look that up) or a pair of Sony monitor headphones (which Ive had for decades and have no intention of "upgrading" and have no idea on their impedance or sensitivity). Currently my source is a single iPod (actually an old iPhone, I no longer use, except for music). Sorry to the purists among you, I know this is probably sacrilegious. I do have vinyl, but I prefer the cleaner (no-pop) sounds from the iPod.
My "sound room" is my office, and I listen to music quietly in the background when working. I use headphones when I want to tune everything else out and relax. So I guess you could describe my listening room as "near field" as I understand that term. Also I have very limited space for audio equipment, so size is a concern.
So that brings me to my questions: Amp? I like the simplicity of the SE84UFO2 The one with the wood base. But, alas, it has no option for a headphone jack. I know I could plug my headphones directly into my iPod, but I honestly don't like to fiddle with the wires to do that. I would rather just be able to switch a switch between speakers or headphones. And I could also build a switch box with load balancing, but again, that's a kludgy solution, that I am sure degrades the sound of your wonderfully simple circuits, so why not just get a single piece of equipment that can do that from the start?
I like the simplicity of the SE34I.5, and especially it's price point. However I feel that it's footprint is a bit bigger than what I am looking for.
Lastly the Mini Torii (is that pronounced: "Tor II or "Torree"?) seems a bit smaller than the SE34, So I suppose that is an option, but again the cost is significantly more than its simpler cousins.
Yes, the 25th Anniversary amplifier is both extremely beautiful and I applaud Mr. Deckert for the incredible power supply on that unit; however, the price point is a bit out of my range for casual spending, albeit what a conversation piece it would be!
Comments, suggestions, experience are all welcomed...I am here to learn...
thanks for reading and (in advance) for being patient with me, Christine
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